may 2019 | GAMES WORLD OF PUZZLES 43
BY JONATHAN SCHMALZBACH •8,-730(+%1)•
%'87-2-:)
)
ver since Aristotle applied
categories (kategoria) to his 10
classes of things in the universe
that can be named, humans have been
compelled to categorize things.
A staple puzzle of variety puzzle
magazines has been a category puzzle
wherein one takes a category—say
“animals,” and a letter, like “E” —and
then creates a list of animals that start
with “E,” such as elephant, eland, elk,
etc. Kids in Argentina play a variant of
this game called Basta; in England, it’s
known as Tutti-Frutti.
In 1964, inventor Rick Onanian
capitalized on people’s penchant
for this type of challenge by coming
out with Facts in Five: The Game of
Knowledge. In Facts in Five, two or
more players begin by drawing five
cards. Cards may contain a category
and/or a class. Class cards list all-
encompassing topics such as “Parts of
the Human Anatomy.” A category card
is a subset of a class and more specific.
For example, a class card might be
“Parts of the Human Anatomy,” while
a related category card might ask for
Bone, Muscle, Gland, or Organ.
Then, five initial letters are chosen
and applied to the card. In our Human
Anatomy example, let’s say the class
card is “Organs” and the letter is “S”.
Players have to think of an organ that
begins with “S.” (We came up with
five—see our answers at the end of
this article.)
Using a sand timer, players have
five minutes to fill out a Playcard that
contains five classes/categories, for a
maximum of 25 answers.
Here is where some strategy comes
in. Let’s say there is a class card called
“Music Composers” and a category
card specifying “German Classical” and
the first letter of the composer’s last
name is “B.” A majority of players might
write Beethoven or Bach. But here’s the
caveat: If any players pick the same
answer, no credit is awarded. In trying
to come up with someone others might
not know, a savvy player could opt for
Brahms or Buxtehude.
Note that players receive a general
score for answers going down and
a special score for answers going
across by taking the number of correct
answers and squaring the result. For
instance, three correct answers would
be worth 9 points.
Facts in Five works best when there
are evenly matched players who have a
wide range of knowledge, but it can also
be played by youngsters. A fun aspect
of the game is in shared nostalgia,especially when played by a group of
trivia geeks. Let’s say the category is
“American Horror Movies” and the letter
is “P.” Someone might answer Psycho,
which could lead to a lot of commentary
like, “Yikes, the shower scene!” or
trivia-sharing such as, “Did you know
that Janet Leigh only took baths after
filming that infamous shower scene?”
or “Psycho was the first movie to show
a toilet being flushed.”
Originally published by Advanced
Ideas Co., the rights were acquired
by the 3M Company in 1967 for its
bookshelf game line. Instead of
traditional flat-boxed board games,
bookshelf game boxes are squarish
and designed to stand on shelves.
Over time the rights to the game
were bought by various companies
but in a nice twist the rights ultimately
reverted to its inventor, Rick Onanian.
In 2007, a new edition was published
by University Games.
Versions of the game are readily
available online and fairly inexpensive.
There are also online versions. While
the categories in older versions have
stood up well over time, you may want
to consider an updated version.
And if you get the category “Famous
Ancient Greeks” and the letter “A,” you
may want to write “Aristotle”—that’d be
a nice homage to the guy who got this
all started. Q
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A SAMPLE PLAYCARD FROM FACTS IN FIVE